What the Tech? Video games to thank for adult men living at home, study suggests

Full disclosure here: I do not play online video games. It's not that I don't enjoy video games, I just don't have the time. It should come as no surprise that young men between the ages of 21-30 enjoy playing games and new research suggests it's a problem.

Wednesday, July 19th 2017, 6:51 PM EDT

Updated:

Friday, July 21st 2017, 3:12 PM EDT

Full disclosure here: I do not play online video games. It's not that I don't enjoy video games, I just don't have the time. It should come as no surprise that young men between the ages of 21-30 enjoy playing games and new research suggests it's a problem.

Researchers at Princeton and the University of Chicago have completed an extensive research project that suggests young men in that age group prefer playing games over getting a real job, and they're not interested in changing their lives.

Some of the findings find the stereotypes of living in their parents house playing games all day isn't just a stereotype.

As of 2016, 15 percent of men between 21-30 were unemployed and not in school. That's nearly double the rate of 8 percent in 2000. Sixty-seven percent of those young men were living at home with their parents or another relative and those men were happy about their situation, happier that years before. Much of their social interactions were online playing games with other gamers and the average young man 21-30 spends 520 hours a year on their computer and most of that time is playing video games.

You might think the reason so many young men aren't working is because there are fewer jobs available but that is likely untrue. Fifteen percent of young men are unemployed and not in school, which is almost double the number in 2000, plus the overall unemployment rate in the United States is a very low 4.3 percent.

The study suggests things will likely get worse as video gaming continues to rise at a rapid pace with new technology coming out virtually every day. Virtual reality gaming is just now being widely available at reasonable prices.